Eight Charles Sturt University (CSU) International School of Business staff leave for China later this month to conduct intensive professional enhancement programs with their counterparts at four Chinese universities. Tianjin University of Commerce, Yunnan University of Economics and Finance, Changchun Taxation College and Yangzhou University are strategic partners with CSU for the delivery of business studies courses to international students overseas. Professor Alan Fish is Head of the International School of Business at CSU. He explains that the articulation agreements with the four Chinese institutions means students can graduate with both Chinese and western qualifications, making the students more employable. “We will be conducting intensive face-to-face sessions with the Chinese academics to familiarise them with assessment procedures and content of the CSU subjects,” Professor Fish said.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is committed to an Indigenous Employment Strategy that promotes the employment of Indigenous Australians across all CSU schools and divisions. As part of this strategy a series of workshops have been planned. The first of this two part series was run at the Wagga Wagga Campus and Bathurst Campus in November and December 2006. Further workshops are now scheduled for July, August and September this year. Workshop 1 will provide an overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their culture, especially those of south eastern Australia and the issues that are important to them. Topics will include kinship and relationship to country, Aboriginal dreaming and spirituality, contemporary families and communities, and issues of inequality. Workshop 2 will touch on barriers to education and employment, promoting Indigenous employment at CSU, workplace issues and cross cultural communication, and look at protocols for community consultations.

The new Director of Charles Sturt University's National Wine and Grape Industry Centre, Professor Thomas Henick-Kling will draw on his commercial and research experience to talk about the latest wine research developments worldwide at a evening dinner in Albury on Monday 23 July. A native of Germany, Professor Henick Kling is a wine microbiologist with commercial and experimental winemaking experience and knowledge of wines from Germany, France, USA, Australia and New Zealand. He has returned to Australia after 20 years with the prestigious Cornell University in USA. He has judged international wine competitions in USA and Europe and is on editorial boards for two international wine research journals. Participants will hear from Professor Henick-Kling before enjoying a two course meal in the Border Wine Room, Dean St, Albury.

A senior Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic has used an international forum to argue for the expansion of community development in the Asia Pacific region to tackle major socio-economic problems such as extreme poverty, lack of education, and environmental unsustainability. Professor Manohar Pawar of the CSU School of Humanities and Social Sciences was a main speaker at the International Association for Community Development conference. “Many countries policies suggest that those people and institutions with most influence, referred to as ‘top down’, are poised to develop communities at all levels. The capacity of ordinary communities need to be developed to match the ‘top downs’ readiness,” said Professor Pawar. “It is a challenging but not impossible task. If we sincerely search, I believe we will find answers to these challenges within the diversity of the region.”

The theatre and the practice of meditation might seem unrelated, but not for some thespians who use the essence of Zen philosophy to enhance their performances on stage. Charles Sturt University (CSU) in conjunction with Wagga Wagga City Council is presenting a public lecture Zen and Theatre by John Bolton, Guest Director with the CSU School of Visual and Performing Arts and a Zen practitioner. In the lecture, he will present the story of one person’s adventure in theatre and Zen over the last 35 years. Mr Bolton believes that the actor is the one who makes the most mistakes, and the ability to continue to make mistake after mistake, discarding, polishing, and recreating, takes the same sort of steadfast centre of stillness that is found in Zen.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Associate Professor Manohar Pawar highly commended the Indian ”rights-based approach” to economic development while speaking at a plenary session on “welfare-to-work” at the 15th symposium of the International Consortium for Social Development in Hong Kong. Professor Pawar particularly supported the right to education and right to work, which is the main basis of emerging social security in India. According to Professor Pawar, India, which is in the midst of liberalisation, free market and globalisation, has assumed the responsibility of providing work to its citizens by enacting the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005. He added India has also proposed to offer security to workers in the unorganised sector, when the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Bill is approved in the Parliament and contended that politics of welfare should not be geared for welfare of politics or politicians.

The Charles Sturt University (CSU) Winery has been awarded three more prestigious wine show medals at the 2007 Boutique Wine Awards in Sydney. The CSU Winery claimed two Gold Medals and one Silver Medal, continuing the winery’s success at major Australian wine shows. The 2006 Limited Release Chardonnay was awarded a Gold Medal and more recently won Top Gold in its class at the 2007 Cowra Wine Show. This wine is produced from grapes grown in the University’s vineyard at Orange. The 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot also took a Gold Medal. This wine is produced from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes from the University’s Wagga Wagga vineyard and from the Hilltops region in Young, NSW and Merlot grapes from Cowra. The 2005 Shiraz won a Silver Medal and although this wine is not yet released, it was also awarded a Silver Medal at the 2006 Wagga Wagga (Southern NSW) wine show. It is produced from grapes from CSU vineyards at Orange and Wagga Wagga and from the Gundagai region.

Homework has been a tradition in education for decades. Recently, educators have begun to rethink the value of homework, particularly for primary and middle school aged children. Is homework useful? Should our children do homework at all? If so, what would constitute quality homework for children? Dr Tracey Smith from the Charles Sturt University (CSU) School of Education will use the example of mathematics to address all of these questions at a public lecture at West Wyalong on Wednesday 29 August. It will explore perceptions about mathematics, how it is learned most effectively, how parents can help their children learn mathematics and how mathematics homework might be more meaningfully developed to enhance learning at home, rather than create a battle zone for parents and their children.

Rice is the world's most important cereal crop and the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, on the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus, is researching the genetics of rice and how gene variations affect its cooking. Rice contains about 90 per cent starch, comprising amylose and amylopectin. It is the amount and structure of these two starchy chemicals that dictate its properties, while a number of  genetic variations in rice starch enzymes also affect its cooking qualities. Visiting scientist at the CSU School of Wine & Food Sciences, Dr Arun Aryan, will present an overview of these genetic variations and the development of DNA markers to predict rice cooking properties at a seminar to be held on Wednesday 12 September at the Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute conference room.